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What Is The Real Portwenn Of ‘Doc Martin,’ Port Isaac Really Like?

By Amy Feinstein
Published on: 08:37 PST, Jun 18, 2016

The fictional town of Portwenn of the show Doc Martin is really Port Isaac, a fishing village in Cornwall, and with the increased popularity of Doc Martin, more and more people have popped in to check it out. Whether people want to see the surgery, or hope to see star Martin Clunes, especially while the show is shooting for those few brief months, crowds have started to form in what was a quiet little village.

According to the Inquisitr, the cast of Doc Martin invades Port Isaac and turns it into Portwenn for a brief time, during the window of good weather. Port Isaac looks to be like a chocolate box type of village, small and built in a time where many folks were not over six-feet tall, like Martin Clunes. Over the course of the series, Martin Clunes as Doc Martin, the title character of the series, has bumped his head many times just walking in and out of the room. Along with co-star Caroline Catz, Clunes is easily thought of as the face of the series.

Rick Steves, travel writer for the Huffington Post, remarked that though Doc Martin makes the village look like a sleepy little town, it is being overrun with visitors, eager to walk in the steps of Martin Clunes.

“While Port Isaac is portrayed on the show as a quiet time warp, in reality it’s chockablock with Doc Martin fans. And part of their pilgrimage is to hike up the far side of the village to this building, Doc Martin’s cottage.”

But Steves explains that to get the charm of the area, one needn’t just visit Port Isaac. Steves says that all of Cornwall is very similar to Penzance (yes, like the Pirates).

Radio Times asked Doc Martin star Martin Clunes what his favorites places are around Port Isaac and Cornwall are. Clunes and family move houses while shooting, and Clunes has shared his favorite places to walk the dog, have tea, or just hang out. Clunes says that the first place that comes to mind is Port Quin, which is on the northern Cornish coast. Clunes says it is one of his favorite places to walk the dog.

“It’s an old fishing village along the coast from Port Isaac. There’s a beautiful crenelated folly there called Doyden Castle, built about 1830 by Samuel Symons, which we used as Pentire Castle at the end of season five.”

The doctor’s house and office on Doc Martin is actually a place called Fern Cottage, and though visitors can’t go in, it is highly photographed, and Clunes says it is even more beautiful than it appears on Doc Martin.

“Doctor Martin’s house actually has two gardens, one that we use and one just up the cliff a little. When filming gets hectic and I need a bit of peace I can go up to the secret garden, look out to sea and get some space.”

But the Western Morning News says that though Clunes has a great fondness for Port Isaac as the home of Doc Martin, he has another favorite quiet spot in Cornwall, where he can get some peace and learn his lines, and that is Delabole.

“I need to be tucked away, I have so many lines to learn.”

And though Clunes says that it isn’t as picturesque as Port Isaac, and it is generally foggy and rainy, Clunes says that it is incredibly close-knit. But Clunes says that the locals have a bit of a love-hate relationship with him and the production staff, which is why they don’t shoot every year. Clunes says he wants to show some sensitivity.

“It’s one of the reasons we don’t film it every year.”

Have you ever wanted to visit the Port Isaac home of Doc Martin?

[Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images]

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